A Chance Encounter(?)
by Shoe the Reaper
Summary: Mey-Rin gets turned upside down when by chance she again meets the charismatic and mysterious man who she never thought she would see again-or remember, for that matter. (Mey-Rin, Ronald Knox.)
1. Chapter 1

Mey-Rin stood crouched on the roof of the western wing of the Phantomhive manor, Colt pistols in both hands. She remained completely motionless, one foot slightly over the roof's edge. _Where are you, little rats?_ She reached up and lifted her impossibly thick glasses (the prescription had long since gone off, but she still refused to replace them) out of her eyes. She carefully surveyed the area, never missing any bit of land, never overlooking a single detail. The air became eerily silent.

Suddenly, there was a sliver of shadow that swiftly moved behind a tree. It may have only been for a fraction of a fraction of a second, and so very small.

But Mey-Rin had noticed it.

_There you are_.

The maid open fired, and the tree came toppling over, revealing a staggering man who was clutching his side and openly cursing. He'd been shot. But he wasn't alone. Only a complete fool would be.

Roughly 35 men popped out of their hiding nooks and bushes like puppets in a miniature theatre, all wearing black and holding a variety of muskets and rifles. There was perhaps a second of silence, and then the air filled with deafening gunfire.

Bullets flew at Mey-Rin from all directions, but to her, they moved in slow motion. She nimbly dodged them one after another, ducking and flipping out of the melee. There was a pause of clicks and clatters from many of the men in black. They had run out of bullets. Mey-Rin was going to take this opportunity. She turned and fired. Several men fell backwards with a red hole square in the middle of each of their foreheads, with no time to cry out. Mey-Rin ran along the roof tops, shooting as she ran. She felled about 17 men, all with a bullet to the forehead. She turned and jumped down from the opposite side of the roof and disappeared from sight.

The men stopped shooting but remained wary. Assassinating Earl Phantomhive to eliminate minor competition was going to be more difficult than anticipated. Apparently this manor had only a single sniper on it's pay, but that single sniper had already killed a solid half of their hands. One of the younger men could not stop staring at the roof. Had the sniper retreated? If so, where could he have gone? And what kind of person could kill so many while never once missing a sho-

His thoughts were interrupted by a metal object being pushed against the back of his head and the click of a gun being cocked. His breath ceased.

"Take a look around," said a voice behind him. To his surprise, it was a female voice.

He did. And he gasped. His comrades, who only moments ago had been loading up their arms and getting ready to fire again, were lying on the ground lifeless, blood spilling out of their open wounds. He started began quaking uncontrollably, hardly able to whimper. A woman? How could a woman...

"The next time you want to declare a raid on this manor," said the voice, "be sure to come in through the main entrance….and to wipe your shoes of filth."

BLAM.

Mey-Rin happily strode down the halls of the Phantomhive Manor carrying a basket of neatly folded clothes, half walking, half bouncing, and humming a tune to which she didn't know the words. "Heh. I cleaned up the likes of them, I did! All in a day's work!"

After all, she was in a good mood. She had helped out around the manor without tripping up, and that made her happy. There were still a few blood stains on her uniform along with a dash of crusted grey brain matter, but the Young Master came first. She was delivering his laundry.

Nobody was in the Young Master's quarters, as the Young Master was always in his office during this time of day. Mey-Rin freely entered and went to the closet to hang up his clothes. She could see the fresh corpses of the men in black still lying on the ground out of the bedroom window. It seemed as though Snake, Bard, and Finny hadn't started body cleanup yet. She chuckled cheerfully.

"Eh heh heh! Those silly men thought they had the upper hand, yes they did! Didn't take li'l ol' me into account, yes!"

Then she stopped. "Eh?"

There was someone out there.

He hadn't been there a second ago.

Mey-Rin gingerly pushed her glasses up out of her face. She squinted. There was a young man walking amongst the dead bodies, seemingly inspecting each and every one. He had very blonde hair that was slightly curled to one side, and sported a black suit and a pair of black rimmed spectacles. He was constantly checking a large book and had with him the most peculiar object Mey-Rin had ever seen. It looked like a bladed metal cylinder with a long handle. His face wore a collected and slightly distressed look, like some terrible inconvenience had been circumstantially forced upon him.

Was he a guest?

Was it Scotland Yard?

Was he an intruder?

Mey-Rin went with the third one.

She plopped down the basket of laundry, fastened the buckle that held the placket in her skirt, swung open the door, and darted down the hallway.


	2. Chapter 2

Ronald Knox was not having a very good day. He had already landed himself deep into overtime when he had finished up his previous assignment (some sort of mass suicide), and now Management wanted him to take care of this mess that "came up last minute." Damned slave-drivers. Wouldn't be his fault if they got written into his letter of apology. He was beginning to think Management was starting to enjoy running his ass off. Always the rookie.

In any case, whoever had killed all these sorry bastards was obviously quite skilled. There had to be at least 30 people here, all killed the exact same way. _John Matthews, age 29, born August 16th 1860, died June 7th 1889 due to a bullet to the head. David Adams, age 31, born February 3rd 1854, died June 7th 1889 same as above. Calvin Jones, same as above. Next, same as above, same as above, same as above. Additional remarks, none._

_Yeesh. I sure hope_ _I don't run into the fellow who did all this._

He was almost done. Cinematic records swirled around him as he went on to the last soul. Almost done….then he could go home and-

"Wot're you doing here?"

Ronald flinched in surprise. He turned around to see who had spoken. What stood in front of him (much to his surprise) was a maid. Her deep purple hair was in two pigtails, and her skirt was placketed to one side, revealing one of her legs. Her glasses were so thick that Ronald couldn't even see her eyes from this distance. She was breathing heavily, like she'd run a great distance. She was kind of cute.

"Visitors are accepted through the front entrance only, sir. And the Young Master is very busy, yes he is."

"Wha-woah woah woah!" Ronald took a step back. "I'm not a visitor," he said, immediately realizing how stupid he had been in saying so. "I'm just, uh…inspecting the grounds for suspicious behavior?"

Mey-Rin didn't say anything. Ronald turned his pockets out.

"See? Unarmed."

She rested her hand on the gun that was strapped to her leg. "Who are you?"

"Not quite at liberty to answer that…..?"

There was an awkward pause. Ronald bit his lower lip.

"Welp, it's been nice, gotta run, pleasant talkin' with ya, bye!"

He turned around, dashed away, and was gone before the smoke had cleared. Mey-Rin was left standing there, with an extremely confused expression on her face. She ran around the house in the direction he had stormed off. The man was nowhere to be seen. Mey-Rin was puzzled. What the devil just happened?

It was strange. Something was….off, but she couldn't figure out what (aside from what had just happened), like…..she had seen that man somewhere before. Her brain struggled to find a place and a time for him, but nothing fit. Perhaps it was just her imagination.

She glanced behind her. It appeared as though the strange visitor had forgotten his bladed cylindrical "object."

At a loss as to what to do with it, she brought it inside through the servant's entrance.


	3. Chapter 3

"Blimey, I ain't never seen anyfin' like it before."

"Do ya fink it's a weapon of some sooort?"

"No, I'd say it looks more like a cutting tool for fields or wheat or somethin'..."

"Nor does this strange implement have any likeness to anything I have ever seen. -Says Wordsworth."

"Can you really understand wot those creepy things are sayin'?"

"I am not a **thing**, sir, and I will not stand being looked down upon by someone of your ilk! -Says Emily."

Bard had called a meeting for all of the servants in the kitchen immediately after Mey-Rin had wheeled the thing in through the servant's entrance (except for Mister Sebastian, who was busy bringing the Young Master his afternoon tea, so they had opted not to bother him). It seemed to be a tool of some sort. But nobody could tell what it actually was. It was an alien object.

Bard ran his fingers against the blades. "Well, there's definitely a slight patina on the blades as well as a lot of scratches. It's definitely been used quite a bit."

Finnian tore his attention away from the strange tool, smiling his usual smile. "Hey, Mey-Rin, what did that fella look like?"

"Wot?"

"C'mon, the man who was carryin' this! He must do some real odd jobs if it involves usin' this old thing. What did he look like?"

Mey-Rin sighed. "Well, he had blonde hair, kinda curly like. An' he was wearin' a black suit, too. He had an awful big pair o' glasses."

Bard chuckled. "Funny words comin' from you."

"Wha- shut up!"

Snake knelt down and leaned towards the strange object. A green tinted snake slithered out from his shirt collar and put it's nose against the handle. After a moment the snake recoiled, and so did Snake along with it, covering his nose. "Urgh."

"Huh?" said Finny. "What's wrong with Mister Snake?"

Snake had a look of bewilderment and repulse. "Smells…..not good. -Says Oscar."

Mey-Rin's brow furrowed. "Wot do you mean?"

"It smells like death. I don't like it. -Says Oscar."

Bard stood up and gripped the handle. "Huh. Maybe it is a weapon then after all."

"What do you fink we should do wiv it?" asked Finny.

Bard assumed his head-of-the-lower-servants stance. "I say we keep it in the closet in Me an' Finny's quarters till we figure out what it is. I think it's best we don't let Sebastian know about this just yet." The servants dutifully nodded in agreement. After the thing was wheeled into Bard and Finny's closet, the servants attended to their usual duties.

It suddenly dawned on Mey-Rin that she had left her basket of laundry on the floor of the Young Master's bedroom. They must be getting horribly wrinkled by know. And even after she had taken the time to nicely press them. She jogged up the stairs holding her skirt up so as not to trip over it. After climbing the stairs and somehow managing not to fall, she headed down the west wing. Suddenly she felt a hand strongly clasping onto her shoulder.

"Waaah!"

She shook her shoulder loose and whipped around. But when she saw who it was, she relaxed instantly. There stood Mister Sebastian, his hand raised slightly and gently smiling. Sebastian's smile always made Mey-Rin's insides feel tight.

"I should like to remind you that there is to be no running in the hallways."

"Oh, ah, um, I am so terribly sorry Mister Sebastian, I am! I had forgotten to hang the clothes I had laundered for the Young Master, yes, and-"

Sebastian stopped her mid-sentence. "So I had noticed. Not to worry, I took care of your little basket of laundry." He looked at her with slight disapproval. "However, I would prefer if you would carry out your responsibilities completely in the future."

"Y-yes sir. I understand sir, I do."

"That is good. I look forward to seeing you do so."

Mey-Rin didn't say anything. Her cheeks may have flushed a bit.

"Coincidentally, I would like you to do something for me."

"Eh?"

"The Young Master has a brief announcement to make. I would like you to gather all of the servants to the front room immediately, as it will affect all of you."

Mey-Rin stood up straight."Yes sir! Of course, sir!"

"Thank you, Mey-Rin," Sebastian replied, smiling warmly. "I appreciate it."

Mey-Rin skipped down the halls to tell the other servants. She was giggling like a child. Sure, this had been a rather hectic day, but now it had just gotten better by so much. Sebastian had wanted her help. Just being around Mister Sebastian made her so happy. Whenever their eyes met, her heart skipped a beat, maybe two. His wonderful dark, almost reddish eyes like none other's. And that firm yet gentle feeling he had about him when he spoke to her that she loved. No one else could make her feel this way. She longed for a moment for just the two of them, alone together (perhaps her feelings were unrequited, but still she could dream).

After all the servants had been gathered in the front room standing side by side, the Young Master entered the room accompanied by Mister Sebastian, his shoes clicking against the checkered marble floors. He and Sebastian turned to face the servants. "I thank you all for coming here, you four. Now then, about my current situation." His eyes slightly drifted to the right. "I will be leaving the manor tomorrow for an indefinite period of time. I apologize for my sudden absence, but I trust you lot will be able to take care of the manor while I am away."

"Ah! Young Master!" Finny raised his hand. "If you're going to the townhouse, wouldn't Mister Snake be coming with you?"

The Young Master sighed. "Under such circumstances, Snake will not be joining me on this particular travel. Nor am I going to the townhouse."

Everyone's ears suddenly perked up.

"Two days from today, I will be temporarily enrolling in Weston College in west Britain, as I have some business to see to there. The only one who will be coming with me is Sebastian. I'm not sure how long I will be away, but hopefully I will return in a few weeks time. Can I safely assume that you will look after the manor without burning the place to the ground?"

"Yes sir!"

Twilight swiftly approached as the day came to a close. Not much else happened for the rest of that day (aside from Finny accidentally snapping a ladle in half with his hand and it falling into the stew when Bard asked him for help). When the Young Master had gone to bed, the servants were excused. Mey-Rin flopped into bed exhausted. There was no more blood staining the back lawn of the garden, there were no more dishes to wash, nothing else needed to be dusted, and no more work was to be done for the day. Mey-Rin took off her glasses and set them on her bedside table. She blew out the flame in the oil lamp and curled up into the warmth of her blankets.

She was awakened by loud rustling sound outside her room.

Mey-Rin had almost fallen asleep when she heard it. She waited for a moment. Then she heard it again. She groped around in the dark for her glasses and put them on. Then she took her box of matches, struck one of the matches, and lit her lamp. Then she grabbed the lamp by it's handle, got up out of bed, and listened for the sound again. It came again, only louder this time. She grabbed the stool she kept by her closet and set it up against the wall, under the only window in her room. It was small, but it was nice to leave open on warm nights. She stepped onto the stool and slowly opened the window. There was the usual bushes and the trees. But the rustling noise had stopped.

Then a face popped up right in front of hers, like a children's toy. A face with blonde hair and spectacles.

"Top o' the evenin', Miss!"

Mey-Rin screamed.


	4. Chapter 4

There was a knocking sound on the door. Mey-Rin went to answer it. It was Mister Sebastian, holding a bright candelabra that flickered eerily. "Mey-Rin. Is everything alright?"

"Ah? Oh, um, yes, e-e-everthin's just fine, yes! W-why wouldn't it be?"

"I thought I heard you scream."

"Well erm….oh, there was a spider that landed right on my face, it did! S-scared me half to death, yes it did!"

Sebastian stared at her skeptically for a moment. "I am sorry it frightened you so. Please do try to get some sleep. It is unhealthy to keep long hours. Good night."

"Good night, sir." Mey-Rin watched Sebastian leave until he faded into the shadows. Then she shut the door and leaned her back against it, heaving a sigh.

The strange man stuck his head out from under her bed. "Is he gone?"

"He's gone, he is."

"Phew. That was a close call," he said as he slid out from under the bed. "Anybody else gonna hear you?

"I don't hear anyone else in the halls, and I suppose it wasn't that loud, yes. I don't think anyone else heard it, yes. Moreover, wot in the hell are you doing here again?"

He got up and dusted himself off. "Haaaaah. I'm so stupid, I keep forgettin'. Any job at the Phantomhive Manor runs the risk of bumping into **that** guy."

Mey-Rin pushed up her glasses. "How do you know Mister Sebastian?"

"Not important. Anyways, I need you to do me a favor."

"Wot? Why me?"

The man sat on the edge of the bed and crossed his legs."Because you're the one who got me into this mess in the first place. So take responsibility hmmm?"

Mey-Rin cocked her head. "Wot?"

"I need it back."

Mey-Rin crossed her arms."You need wot back?"

"My ah…..thing. That I had. Earlier. That thing."

Mey-Rin didn't say anything.

"Can you maybe go get it for me and I'll be on my merry way?" he said, smiling awkwardly and pointing his thumb towards the window, which was still open.

"Will you tell me wot it is, then?"

His smile faltered. "Um…..No."

"Then I won't do it, not at all! Not after you just take a stroll round the manor uninvited, and then you barge into my quarters unannounced! You expect me to give that thing back to you when I don't even know who you are, why you're here, or what you want! Until you explain all that, I'm not getting a damned thing for you, no I'm not!"

The man was quiet for a few seconds. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, you know."

"Please."

He sighed. "All right then. Fine." He got up from the bed. "Oh god, I am so dead. Ok. So." He paused for dramatic effect. "I'm a spiritual entity bordering the being of man and god who judges the spirits of dead based on the life they lived and collect their souls using a Death Scythe which serves as a tool for soul reaping and as a weapon for combat, and mine is currently located somewhere in this building and I need it back right this second or my higher ups are going to suspend me. Happy?"

Mey-Rin was at a loss for words. She was incredulous with this man's nerve.

"Didn't I say you wouldn't believe me?"

She put her head in her hands. "Please….just leave."

"You want me to prove it?" The man pulled out what appeared a large leather bound book, with the title **To Die** crudely scribbled on the cover. He thumbed through the pages until he reached a certain page, then stopped. "Ah, here we are." He held the book up to eye level. "John Matthews, aged 29 years old, born August 16th 1860, died June 7th 1889 due to a bullet to the head. He was apart of a group of killers who were sent to assassinate a certain Earl Ciel Phantomhive, until he was gunned down by a lone sniper who was guarding the manor." He turned the book around for Mey-Rin to see. "Sound right?"

Mey-Rin looked a bit closer and was astonished. On the page was a picture of a man in his late twenties with brunette hair and a slight stubble. She recognized him instantly. He was the first one she had killed. "How….in the world did you…"

The man shut the book. "This," he said, "is the To Die List. A complete queue of absolute ends. If your name is in the list of the dead, it means you're scheduled to die and there's not a thing in the world you can do about it. That's where I come in. I judge the souls of the dead and decide where they go from there. **That **is the job of a Grim Reaper. Which I am. 'Course, we're called Shinigami in some circles, but…."

Mey-Rin's mouth was hanging wide open as she was listening. She wasn't sure she completely believed him, but he knew every fact about how this person had died and their intentions from somebody who was dead. This was enough to send her head slightly reeling. And then there was that nagging feeling in the back of her brain that she had seen this man before, though her brain refused to remember who he was. Who in the world was this odd fellow?

"So," he continued, "my Death Scythe, slash tool, slash weapon, is in this mansion because you and your little friends took the liberty 'borrowing' it for whatever reason. So now I need you to go get it for me and then I will leave. Simple as that."

Mey-Rin tiptoed up to Finny and Baldo's quarters. The "tool" was still in their closet. She really didn't want to do this, but that man had made a rather convincing argument. She put her hand on the door knob and hoped with every fiber of her being that she wouldn't wake them. Bard slept with a gun, after all. The door clicked, making Mey-Rin cringe. She carefully, ever so carefully opened the door with a loud creak. Bard had never been able to properly fix that creak in the door. She tiptoed inside, and the floor squeaked with every other step. As she approached the closet, she heard, "Nnnn….Mey-Rin…."

Mey-Rin froze in horror. She slowly turned her head in the direction of Finny's voice.

"Mey-Rin...why can't I have any….sweeets…..."

Mey-Rin wiped the sweat off her brow in relief. It was only Finny talking in his sleep. She had forgotten that he tended to do that. She gingerly opened the closet door and grabbed the strange tool by the handle. She pulled it out of the closet (this took some effort) and wheeled it out of the room. When she was out, she shut the door behind her. Then she took the thing back to her room. She looked down at the object. Was this thing really a tool for judging souls or whatever he had said? Was he really a...god? Mey-Rin dismissed the thought.

"All right then," she said, resting her hand on the handle of the tool. "I've gone and gotten your odd tool, I have."

"Great! Thank you!" The man walked up to the tool and swept it out of her hands. "Now I can return, get that letter written, and, ah, get chewed out by Management. Rats, I am so suspended."

"Erm, how are you going to get out of here? Shall I show you to the door, or-"

"Nah, I reckon I can just squeeze back out through that window."

"No, wait! It's too small for that tool! You'll break it!"

"Then how do you propose I go about this? You won't be able to show me to the front entrance without bein' heard by that butler of yours, probably."

Mey-Rin was getting flustered again. "Ah, um, well, there's the ah, servant's entrance, and um, I'm uh, sure there's other windows, and-"

The man just smiled.

"Wot is it?"

"I'll be damned."

Mey-Rin didn't understand. "Wot?"

"I knew it!" The man pointed a finger at her. "I **knew** i had seen you somewhere before!"

"Eep? Oh, no sir, th-th-th-this is our first time, m-meeting, yes it is!"

"No, don't you remember? We met at the loading dock for the _Campania_! Remember?"

There was a pause. Then Mey-Rin's eyes widened in realization. "Ah…"

"_Ahoy there! Would ya happen to know where I can find the Second Class entrance?"_

"_Eh? O-over there, I think."_

"_Thank yooou! Let me treat you to tea in the lounge later! Which class are you in?"_

"_Eeeeh!? I-I-I-I only came to see someone off, so…"_

"_We will soon be removing the boarding bridge!"_

"_Aw drat! Yes, yes! I'm getting on! I'll ask you out again if I make it back in one piece. See you!"_

"You're...that flashy fellow with the glasses!"

"I'm choosing to take that as a compliment."

Mey-Rin just stood in disbelief. How could such a coincidence be possible?

Or maybe it wasn't a coincidence.

The man extended his hand. "The name's Ronald Knox. Apologies for not properly introducing myself sooner."

Mey-Rin shook his hand (duly noting this was her first time holding hands with a man). "My name's Maylene, yes. Though most people call me Mey-Rin, they do."

"Miss Mey-Rin," he said, bowing dramatically. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Mey-Rin blushed. Ronald looked up at her. "You said there was a servant's entrance right?"

"U-um, yes."

"That'll do right nicely then."

When the two of them reached the servant's entrance in the back of the kitchen Mey-Rin heard the clock strike midnight. It reminded her how tired she was. She yawned.

"Right then," said Ronald said as he opened the door. "Good seeing you again."

Mey-Rin's eyes wandered to the side. "Yes….um, you too.

There was a brief moment of awkward silence. "You know, ah, Mey-Rin…"

"Hm?"

"I said I would ask you out again if I came back and…well...that offer still stands."

This surprised her. Mey-Rin was at a loss as to what to say. "W-well, I, uh…"

"Never mind. I'll see you again soon. Bet on it."

Mey-Rin had only blinked. Ronald Knox was gone. All that remained was the darkness clouding her vision in the distance.


End file.
